Panhandle shooters make presence known in Junior Olympics event

Posted: Sunday, March 12, 2000

There was a distinctive Panhandle look to the recent Junior Olympic national running target shooting championships in Colorado Springs.

Recently we did a feature story on Taylor Chapman, a freshman at Amarillo High who won the all-around gold medal and national championship at this event. But there were actually nine local kids who competed at the national championships - and six of those earned medals.

Jim Finley of Claude, an assistant coach of the national team, coached eight of those young shooters. Taylor, the new national champion, also started out shooting with Finley, but now trains with his family.

Finley has competed and coached other shooters in national shooting events for over 30 years. He remains an active competitor today.

In the Women's 20+20 Running Target Championships, Elizabeth Simmons of Clarendon won the silver medal in the overall championships.

Local girls also made a clean sweep of the 14-and-under class. Jamie Simmons of Clarendon, Elizabeth's younger sister, won the gold medal. Shanna Shelton, also of Clarendon, took the silver medal and Sage Brannon of Claude won the bronze medal.

Shanna and Sage are both 12. By a few months, Sage is the youngest woman shooter ever to medal in the National Junior Olympics.

In the Men's 30+30 Running Target Championships - in addition to Taylor Chapman's overall championship - Bradley Swinney of Claude took the bronze medal in the 14-and-uinder class.

Three other area boys placed in the men's event. Justin Johnson of Amarillo placed 7th; Leslie Montague of Fritch placed 16th and Jake Lewis of Claude placed 17th.

Safety on Meredith to earn kids T-shirts: Youngsters wearing lifejackets on Lake Meredith this summer will have a chance for special recognition from the Potter/Randall Safe Kids-Water Safety Council of Amarillo. The council has received a grant from the BoatU.S. Foundation to provide 600 T-shirts that will be given by boat patrol staff to children seen wearing life jackets on Lake Meredith.

The local council was one of 28 community groups earning grants from among 225 applications.

"All the grants go to local groups to help them address the boating safety needs of their communities," said Ruth Wood, director of t he BoatU.S. Foundation.

More than 1.7 million people visit Lake Meredith each year. Texas law requires that children under age 13 must wear a life jacket at all times when on the water.

TP&W's Durocher in Panhandle for bass meetings: Last week we mentioned that Phil Durocher, Director of Inland Fisheries for Texas Parks and Wildlife, will visit Abilene next month. Turns out Phil will be presenting programs on largemouth bass management at approximately 14 sites around the state, including the Panhandle.

Phil will be in Amarillo March 21 and in Lubbock March 22. Locations and times are still being set, but watch for updates here in the coming week.

He will discuss bass habitat, genetics and stocking, and will field questions from the audience. Everyone is invited to attend.

Other meetings Phil will hold across the state this spring include: April 12: Choke Canyon; April 18: Abilene; April 19: San Angelo; April 26: Denison; April 27: Wichita Falls; May 10: Waco; May 11: Fort Worth; May 17: San Marcos

Tourism important to Panhandle counties: This month's newsletter from the Panhandle Tourism Marketing Council points out the importance of tourism dollars on the local economy.

While those tourism dollars represented far more than hunting and fishing, outdoor recreation played a big and growing portion of that tourism spending. Deer and waterfowl hunting in the Panhandle, in particular, have received extensive coverage in regional and national magazines, and on several national television shows this year.

In 1998, visitors to Potter and Randall Counties spent more than $365 million, not including air travel. Other important tourism counties included Childress, Dallam, Gray, Hutchinson and Moore Counties, each with tourism spending of at least $13 million in 1998. The tourism industry also created more than 6,600 jobs in the northern Panhandle in 1998.